The Contract Monitoring Committee shall advise the Council in regard to the negotiation, provision, renewal, and workability of all contracts. The Contract Monitoring committee shall normally consist of two members of the Association appointed by the Council and by the President-Elect. The members will serve three year terms. Terms are staggered so that when one member leaves a new member is appointed. Terms begin and end during the annual meeting. The remaining member of the committee is usually the chair-designate for the next year.
Members of the Contract Monitoring Committee are nominated by the Committee on Committees and approved by the Council and/or President. New appointments are usually made in late December or early January.
- Procedures. The Executive Director informs members of pending contracts. The procedure involves the Executive Director sending the members copies of any contract associated with the PSA. Members are then asked to either approve or disapprove the contract. If they have questions about the contact, they usually contact the Executive Director. The two members may contact one another, other Association members, and members of the Council about the contracts, if they wish. Most communication will occur by phone, letter, or email between the two members and the Secretary/Treasurer and others the members wish to consult.
- Duties of the Chair.
- The chair writes the annual report of the committee's activities, if any. This report is due by May 1 and should be sent to the Secretary/Treasurer. The report should include a brief description of any contracts the committee considered and the committee's decision, along with its reasons for the decision.
- Should the committee wish to meet during the annual association meeting, the Chair should inform the Executive Director of the need for a room and committee time slot.
- The Chair maintains the Committee's archive and passes it along to the chair-designate. The archive should consist of the annual report of the Chair and copies of contracts and the committee's decision and reasons, if any, for approval or disapproval. The archive should also contain correspondence, if any, between the committee and Council, the Secretary/Treasurer, committee members, and others.
- Committee agenda. The Executive Director establishes the committee's agenda by sending members a copy of any impending contract. Essentially, there are usually only two types of contracts: a hotel contract for the Association's annual meeting and a publisher's contract for the Association's journal. The latter contract is usually negotiated once every three to five years. The hotel contract is usually negotiated annually, two to three years in advance of the date of the annual meeting, but may not occur every year given the lead time in arranging hotels. The Executive Director asks each committee member to look over the contract carefully, raise questions, if any, and then approve or disapprove the contract. The Executive Director may ask the members to indicate in writing their reasons for approval or disapproval. Council may also ask the committee members to inform Council of their judgment, either in writing or in person. The Executive Director working with the Contract Monitoring Committee usually makes the final decision regarding annual hotel contracts, while Council makes the final decision regarding the publisher's contracts.
The Executive Director informs Council of the Contract Monitoring Committee's response to any contact. As stated above, Council may directly ask the committee members to inform Council of their decision and judgment, either in writing or in person.
The Committee selects its own chair, usually the member who continues on the committee if the other member leaves. - Unique aspects. This is a unique committee because its business is sporadic. There maybe some years when it has no business to conduct - those years in which there is no hotel or publisher's contract to negotiate. If it does have business, most of the time, it will be conducted between November and the date of the annual meeting. The Committee does not originate business; it waits to hear form the Executive Director regarding the need for conducting business.
Committee Members
- Valerie Jenness (13) UC Irvine
- Amy Wharton (14) WSU Vancouver
- Charles Hohm, Executive Director, liaison from Council
Past Committee Reports
We are in the process of making all committee reports accessible through the web.
In the meantime, for information on past meeting programs, please contact the PSA Executive Office.
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